Liam Neeson has a particular set of skills, but apparently recreating skin cells and nerves isn't one of them.

I frickin love this movie. It was Sam truly at his "Raimiest!" "I told you everything" "I know you did Rick. I know. BUT LET'S PRETEND THAT YOU DIDN'T!!!" Classic! :-D

Darkman is an underrated flim one of Raimi's best work. The sequel's had their moments, the first one is the best one. R.I.P Larry Drake.

Poor old Arnold Vosloo, forever typecast to play characters wrapped in bandages :D

Wish movie's were still made like this. Nothing wrong with CGI but the technique is clearly being overused today, most movie's nowadays look like a videogame rather then film.

I heard he fully recovered after he found the Lazarus Pit and went on to train Bruce Wayne.

"Take the fucking elephant" is the greatest line in cinema history. I love that whole sequence. Darkman is definitely one of my favorites of all time. I really enjoy your retrospectives Oliver. I discovered your channel semi recently and have been binge watching your videos lately. You should do one for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", thats an old favorite of mine I'd love to see a retrospective/review of. Thanks for the great content.

Ha ha, love the Sideshow Bob reference with the Die Bart Die. No one who speaks German can be bad. LOL

This is the most underrated movie. It was entertaining and the actors were amazing.

"The Darkman, the." That joke never gets old :)

This movie is my childhood, I remember watching this sooooo many times as a kid. Awesome awesome flick! I quite simply love Sam Raimi's work, it just clicks with me and reminds me a lot of my early teens and childhood.

I loved it when I watched it for the first time as a kid. It was such a good mix of action and horrific imagery. The moments when Darkman gets angry and sees fire all around him made my skin crawl. So creepy. This is an underrated classic from the 90's for sure.

The makeup artist really did an amazing job in this Film!

Surprisingly, this was the film that made me watch Sam Raimi films. I had heard of him but never saw the Evil Dead films at the time. The trailers got me intrigued so much as a kid that it felt like a comic book film. Larry Drake as Robert G. Durant was a highlight and his persona on screen was different than Benny from L.A. Law. Thanks for this retrospective.

Maybe it's because Darkman isn't based on any comic book films but I always thought this film was never talked about enough. Super underrated film and one of my favorites from Sam Raimi.

I love the 'The Darkman, The' joke. I've convinced people that Die Hard in Germany was called 'The Hard'.

I loved Darkman.

I like the first Tim Burton Batman movie, but if Sam Raimi made the movie back in 1989, the movie would've been great. I've read, that Raimi was considered to direct Batman Forever, and if he had made it, of course the movie would've been great. Sam Raimi can make a Batman movie nowadays, and it would be great.

You made my wish come true!!!! This is exactly the movie I've been waiting for you to review!!! It's my favorite movie of all time! I've been watching it since I was 3 and am now 27. Know the entire script by memory!!

This is a great movie. Liam did an amazing job with his acting on this.

I watched this with my best friend when it first came out on video when we were teens. Cliff had this habit when we were watching movies of inexplicably bursting out laughing. He would just start laughing his ass off for a good three or four minutes. When he eventually calmed down you could ask him what he had found so funny. In the case of this particular film it was when Liam Neeson came flying out of the building when it got blown up.

Oh hell yeah, "Darkman" is such an awesome movie. The first "Darkman" movie I saw as a kid was sadly "Darkman 3:Die Darkman Die". But the first "Darkman" movie I rented was "Darkman 2:The Return of Durant". I finally rented the original movie when my local video store had it, but for a while I always skipped over the scene at the carnival with those robot clowns. Nowadays I watch that scene and have no real problems at all (The second robot clown is still a bit freaky though). But yeah, "Darkman" really rocks, great story, performances, special effects, and action. Fantastic review/retrospective as always Oliver.

I had been waiting on this one since I first discovered your channel. So glad to see you cover it!

"Darkman" has always been a favorite of mine. I grew up in the 90's, and remember liking the sequels quite a bit as well back in the day, but I was pretty young at the time. I recently re-watched all three films, and my views have definitely changed in regards to the follow-ups. The original is still a good, solid film in terms of production, performance and narrative. But the manic "Sam Raimi factor" is what elevates it. Great flick on the whole. Glad I own the Shout Factory Blu-Ray, and it's something I'd highly recommend. For a direct-to-video film, "Darkman II" definitely isn't bad, either. It looks like it had a sizeable budget in comparison to most modern DTV follow-ups, and there are some great moments. And even though it's sillier than hell, I always got a kick out of the cheesy sub-plot involving the "particle guns" and how they're going to be sold on the streets, because it feels like something right out of a kitschy 90's comic-book. Arnold Vosloo is a bit miscast, but he nails the quieter moments. On the whole, it's one of the better DTV sequels I've seen. As long as you go in with lowered expectations, it's perfectly watchable. By contrast, "Darkman III" is borderline unwatchable in my opinion. It's clear the director and cast were more interested in the second installment, and that the third chapter was more of an obligation than a passion. It's direction is fine, but it looks like it was rushed and had less of a budget. Performances are cheesy and over-the-top. And it really starts to show how much of a corporate product it is, with its rampant use of stock-footage from the previous two films inserted throughout where they couldn't be bothered to film new material, plus the insertion of a full frickin' Universal Studios commercial into a scene for no reason. They practically pause the film to show it. The worst offender though was the moment that they literally lifted an entire 2-minute scene from "Darkman II" and insert it into the third film to pad out the runtime. It's literally the exact same scene. Stuff like that killed it for me. "Darkman III" is only about 87 minutes... if you subtracted the stock-footage, credits, recap and commercial scene, you'd probably only have about a 65-70 minute movie.

All time classic film. Jenny Agutter always makes a good nurse!

I will be watching the heck out of this! Although many people disagree with me. This has always been one of my favorites.

Loved it! Getting close to the 100k brother, Good work!

Darkman really had the feel of an existing comicbook property despite its original umm... origins. And I raise a glass to Moviedrome (and Alex Cox), which introduced me to films like Knightriders, The Wicker Man, Night of the Comet and Yojimbo.

Dark-Man is One of my favorite Characters Sam Ramii I like he had a love interest but the character is Priceless and I want them to reboot it!

TAKE THE FUCKIN ELEPHANT!!!!!

Great job, Oliver. I remember seeing this in the theatre and LOVED it. Though we ALL wanted a sequel, we all (also) knew it would never be able to top the original. So it's best left as a special one shot!

The montage edits you have for your videos Oliver Harper are probably better than most trailers. At least better than the trailers probably made for some of these films. Some of my favorite parts of your videos!

Still waiting on the retrospective of Sarah Connor Chronicles...

I had no idea Jenny Agutter had a small role in this movie (along with her American Warewolf director John Landis!). What a cast. Also, if there was no Darkman, there would be no Spiderman 1 & 2 eleven years later. This was my most favorite movie of 1990. I saw a late night screen at an arthouse cinema on the same night I watched the original Flatliners. Darkman was so much more fun and hilarious (the old Hollywood dissolve on McDormand looking up at the explosion to wearing black at her boyfriend's funeral had the audience howling with laughter. I don't think there was another comic book movie as good until Logan nearly 27 years later.

Darkman is probably one of Sam Raimi's best films. TBH I wish we had more darker superheroes like Darkman, Spawn and the Crow. Also with all of the awesome stunts and practical effects, I'm surprised Raimi never made a traditional action movie in the 80's or 90's.

I saw this with my mom at the theatre in 1990...she's your typical "Jane Austen-Bronte" fan and she loved this movie.

Awesome retrospective Oliver I love darkman such an underrated movie would you consider doing a retrospective on quick and the dead

1990 was a good year for big budget action movies. You had Darkman, Die Hard 2, Robocop 2, Predator 2. Even TNMT was awesome despite being a more kid targeted movie. Still had a violent edge to it and was criticised as such. Love me some over the top violent movies with balls.

2:38-fun fact that alleyway is used again in spiderman 2. 18:26

No one who speaks German could be an evil man.. PAROLE GRANTED!

I love how Raimi has a similar shot of a guys head being smashed through glass in the first Spider-Man movie. Anybody remember that?

"Where is the money pauly"!....."What Money! Like I said Mr. Durrant I didn't make the pick up, I've been right here sleeping"!!!😂😂😂

Yes Oliver! Sam Raimi can successfully combine Action, Comedy, Drama, and Horror. That's one of the reasons, Raimi is one of my favorite filmmakers.

I love Darkman. The sequels are guilty pleasures of mine.

Oh hell yeah Olly! :)

Excellent work as usual, Oliver. And I loved the SIMPSONS reference. ("Vie! Darkman, Vie!") I remember DARKMAN had a great tagline when it came out that really made me want to see it. "In our darkest hour, there is a light that shines on every man...except one." Great marketing. Look forward to your next review!

Thanks for this I needed it. Love your videos Mister Harper keep up the great work. One of my favorite films.

I LOVED darkman so much! I also had the Amiga Darkman game!

3 definitely isn't pointless. I think it does the most interesting thing with Darkman's disguise powers: making him the father and husband to a broken family, at first simply to keep from blowing his cover, but then deliberately over time as he realizes the real man of the house abuses and neglects them. It struck me as more fascinating than the plot of the original and it'd be nice if they'd had a better cast, budget, and director.

Did anybody notice that Liam Neeson in Dark Man 1 looked exactly like Imhotep's 2nd form from the mummy and that it's ironic that the man who played Imhotep played Dark man in the later film.

Sam Raimi: I don't want to be associated with horror films only Also Sam Raimi creates Darkman (Part Horror, Part Superhero)

I used to watch this movie a lot as a kid on VHS. In retrospect, it was a fairly violent movie for an 8 year old kid to be watching lol.

God DAMN, I had forgotten how amazingly well done this film was!! Your choice of scenes and music for this retrospective review were outstanding, your insights and behind the scenes information detailed and interesting as always...many thanks for reminding me of this, one of Raimi's best efforts...I am purchasing the DVD this evening, and know I will enjoy re watching this gem from the 90's...many thanks.

Would love to see Darkman brought back and put into the Marvel TV shows of Daredevil and Punisher, I think the character would suit along side those characters really well.

I've been waiting for this retrospective for way too long!! XD

"Darkman is easy to get hold of on Bluray". I drove 50km and an hour of driving to go to 3 different stores and they only had the sequels! I only saw it for the first time last night, I love that bit with the pink elephant!

Again a great review of classic material, thanks Oliver!

I need to watch this again, I've only seen it once and that was way back when it first came out on VHS when I was probably 11. My brother and I were fans of the Batman movies back then and I think we rented this expecting something along those lines. I don't think we were all that impressed but I remember being pretty sucked in. Like it wasn't really my thing but it was well done enough that I cared how it turned out.

"In the darkest hour, there is a light, that shines on every human being but one."

What a cool movie, had the Amstrad game at the time, loved how most of Ocean's movie conversions were basically the same game...Batman, Robocop, Hudson Hawk, Darkman!....very similar!

Darkman is a serious cult classic movie with a superb lead performance by Liam Neeson. Arnold Vosloo just couldn't capture this. Great comic book movie.

Saw this twice in the movies. Never met anyone else who loved this movie like me. When Raimi's Spiderman came out I had to chuckle inside at how Darkman was it's template.

This movie is incredibly awesome. I love it. It is underrated and my favorite Liam Neeson movie.

Your reviews are the best cause 1 you review what I like 97% of the time but the main reason is you play the og trailer, talk about bts and all kinds of just random facts that are awesome, and give great pro's and cons to all the films!

"Where is the money Pauly......What money I didn't make the pick up, I've been right here sleeping"!! 😆 😆 😂 😂

I found out this movie exists some years ago. Heard it had a cult following but didn't care to see it. Saw it today for the firet time, never even watched a scene before today. I was entertained well enough in the beginning, then i saw the pink elephant scene!!! I instantly went from just entertained to falling head over heels in love with this movie. That scene is something i needed all my life and didn't realize it. This movie is one of my favourites now!

I remember this having a fun but sadly wasted ad campaign in the British press. A couple of months before the film came out I kept seeing 2" square ads in the newspaper with "Who is Darkman?" & "Have you seen the Darkman?" with the Darkman's silhouette. I didn't know what they were about until the film came out and it made sense but i wondered how many people missed these tiny adverts.

Another great retrospective Oliver. I saw this when I was a kid. My parents rented this for me and my brother and we loved it.

Brilliant video. I love these. It's like a wikipedia come to life. 99% of the time these are more informative than DVD bonus features (discounting director, actor, crew commentaries) which is really saying something. #BestofKZfaq

One of my favorite flicks of all time.

I always liked this film. One thing I never understood was how did Westlake account for height and weight of the villains?

What a guilty pleasure film. One of my favourite superhero movies that isn't Marvel or DC lol. Darkman's horror vibe is very unique compared to the rest of the genre.

Mr. Harper, thank you for this. I discovered this movie a couple of years ago, and it has since become annual viewing. Thank you.

I always remember seeing this among the VHS in Virgin Megastore, it was always next to The Crow. I thought the cover looked really cool but never seeing any advertisements or trailers for it back in the day I just assumed it was some straight to video low budget crap. Fast forward to the late 90s early 00's I realised it was a film with quite a cult following and I managed to capture it being shown on tv, I had no idea it had Liam Neeson in it nor did I know it was by Sam Raimi so it was an absolute joy seeing it for the first time.

good old times,darkman rules

Darkman: I'm everyone - and no one. Everywhere - nowhere. Call me... Darkman.

Thanks for an interesting retrospective. Being a big fan of a character I've seen, played and read most of the mentioned. I can thoroughly agree that two direct-to-video sequels are exactly as you described: not bad but so paling in comparison there's no joy in watching them. I like, however, that Durant remains Darkman's archenemy in practically every version: in Marvel comic (far superior then the sequels) he gets resurrected as a cyborg, while in Dynamite crossover which follows the sequels he returns as a deadite. As for Darkman changing the voice and overall appearance: movie does a far better job then many movies with a mask gimmick: we can see Peyton practicing voice throwing and mimicry and recording Durant's voice, we can see the height difference in some scenes (Notably Smiley, as seen on 26:47) and, well... acting by Larry Drake and Nicholas Worth who portray the masks the longest really sells the illusion, as both are great and do a great job mimicking Neeson trying to mimic them.

I love how you made a great effort not to crack up after the Sideshow Bob joke.

I've got to watch this, never even heard of it and it looks awesome and as soon as it starts I recognised Danny Elfman's dark orchestral cues. I can definitely see the inspiration for Darkman with Harvey Dent /' Two Face. Great video Oliver.

23:10 I mean, who is more likely to turn into a super hero then scientists working on dangerous new technologies/medicine? That trope has never bothered me.

Another great review. I watched Darkman in theaters in 1991 with my friend's (markedly unweird) family. Kept calling my constant snickering "a cold". This is a classic and much better than those awful Spider-Man films. Thanks for the review, but I gotta say you look pretty goddamn frightening in that title card.

A Grand review. Cheers Oliver. I bloody love this film.

I have a bit of an affection for old-style superhero movies (the good ones at least lol). I also liked the new Doctor Strange movie which Raimi directed though.

"The Darkman, the" - as a german I 100 percent approve! Perfect german! 👌

Great video. I, too, saw Darkman for the first time when it aired on the BBC (with Moviedrome host Alex Cox reprimanding both Raimi AND David Lynch for their use of African American characters ...). I, too, didn't like the film right away (I thought it looked too normal and bright, especially after The Evil Dead, Crimewave, and Evil Dead II) but came to appreciate it as a fine superhero film later on.

Loved this film on release Particularly like the reference to movie drome with alex cox used to love this it introduced me to some classics like trancers!! 👍

I watched this movie being very little, my uncle being a comic artist himself had a huge collection of these movies and he loved Sam Raimi's work. Really good analysis, made me want to re-watch this movie, I only wish hero movies were more like this and less "bloated" and "serious".

wow just like darkman the film you got a lot of info across in a short amount of time well done olli you are very efficient in your editing and scripting keep up the good work

Another amazing retrospective, Oliver. I watched this movie yesterday and with the information provided here I'm now really interested to watch the 2nd and 3rd movie, regardless of your opinion on them 😁

This movie is even better than I remember. Watched it recently. Awesome.

you so should do this for Toxic Avenger

I need to watch this movie again. I haven't seen it since I was a kid. I remember not liking it at the time.

Great video as always - here's a few leftfield suggestions from the same era for future episodes - The People Under the Stairs; Candyman; Nightbreed; Falling Down.

Ever think about doing American Psycho? Another great review, by the way!

Really is a small world, moviedrome is where I first saw this movie myself, think it used to be on BBC 2 Sunday nights, remember recording it onto vhs tape. Moviedrome used to show quite a few unusual films like rumble fish, sid&nancy, bring me the head of Alfredo garcia & of course videodrome.

Wow, I saw this on Moviedrome too on that exact same fateful night! Used to be great for cult classics

still surprised they have not done a Darkman vs Rorschach

Man I love this movie. I'm glad you did a retrospective on it!!! Pink Elephant! Quickly!

I forgot Liam Neeson played Darkman, He was also in a movie with Batman a.k.a The Dark Knight. Go figure lol.

20:24 "What about that tattoo on your chest? Doesn't it say die Bart, die?" "Nooo, that's German for The Bart, The."